Game apparatus.



S. G. GREENWOOD.

GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22. 1916.

1,200,340. Patented 00. 3,1916;

QSHEETS-SHEET 1.

27 WITNESS J/WMEL 6, GFfE/Y wean ll mm 34 ATTORNEYS SAMUEL Gr. GREENWOOD, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3,1916.

Application filed May 22, 1916. Serial No. 99,126.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL G. GREEN- woon, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Indianapolis, county of Marion,

5 and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Game Apparatus; and

I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is the provision of a game apparatus having a rotary member or indicator which is driven by electrical means, and combining therewith a switch closing means, preferably consisting of a punch board or the like, wherein the punch closes the circuit. As shown, the rotary member is actuated by a small electric motor which will stop as soon as the current ceases, but has some momentum, whereby said member will be rotated for some distance after the. circuit has been broken.

One feature of the invention in connection with the switch closing means shown, namely, the punch board construction, is a number of blind punches and a number of these punches can be modified so as to increase or diminish the chances of the player. In one form shown a removable board stops the punch when inserted in some of the holes and by changing said board, the chances of the operator can be changed.

In carrying out this last feature of the invention and in order to prevent the opera tor from inserting the punch a second time in the same hole, there is provided in a modified form means for preventing the insertion of the punch in a hole a second time.

as a ready means of determining whether or not a customer is entitled to extra cigars or the like. The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a central vertical longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a section of a portion thereof on an enlarged scale and on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a partial diagram of the circuit. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a member of the punch board of the device showing a modified form. Fig.

This apparatus is intended for use in the sale of cigars and other articles and is used- 6 is a Vertical section through a part of a modified form. Fig. 7 is a similar section through a part of the same at right angles to the same on the line 77 of Fig. 6, but with the punch removed, Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are details of parts of what is shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

There is shown in Fig. 2 a casing having a bottom 10 with side and end walls 11 and a horizontal plate 12 secured therein below the top.

At the left-hand end of the device there is mounteda rotary member 15, arrow-shape in the form shown herein. It is on a vertical shaft or stem 16 which extends through an opening in the plate 12 and also through a circular indicating plate 17 located on said plate 12 and concentric with said shaft 16. The indicating plate 17. is separated by lines 19, as shown in Fig. 1, into sections having different values, according to the desire of theowner of the apparatus. When used in the sale of cigars some of these sections would be No. 1 and some of them No. 2, so that when the arrow stopped over section No. 1, the player would be entitled to one cigar, and if it stopped over section No. 2, he would be entitled to two cigars; A glass cover 20 is located above said plate 17.

The shaft 16 is connected with a shaft 21 of an electric motor 22 which is connected by wire 23 with a dry cell battery 24. Said battery is connected by a conductor cord 25 with a metal punch 26 and when the metal punch is placed in contact, as hereafter eX- plained, with a metal contact plate 27, the circuit ,will be closed through a line 28 leading from said plate 27 to the motor. WVhen the punch is disconnected from the plate 27, the circuit will be opened and the end of the punch can be inserted downward. A sheet of paper 32 is located under said holes, so that afterthe punch has been inserted in the hole, the holepunched in the sheet of paper will show such previous insertion. The sheet of paper is placed upon c a wood shim 33 which has in it a number of holes corresponding and registering with the holes 31 in plate 30. Beneath said shim 33 there is a base board 34 likewise provided with holes registering with some of the holes r in the plates 33 and 30, but not registering with all of the holes thereof, and arranged,

therefore, so that the player will not know 32, 33, 34 and 27 are placed loosely upon the frame board 12 and then the plate 30 is slidable in grooves in the top frame 40. Said top frame can be lifted up and any of the parts 32, 33, 34 and 27 changed and altered if desired.

Vhen the punch is inserted in one of the holes in plate 80 which registers with a hole in the board 34:, the punch will go through and contact with the plate 27 to close the circuit and operate the indicator 15 as long as said punch is held down against plate 27. As soon as the punch is removed, the circuit will be broken and the motor will soon stop and also the indicator 15, but said indicator will not stop in the same place during successive operations of the motor, but its actuation from one operation to the other will be varied sufficiently to give the game the required uncertainty to make it interesting.

If the punch would be inserted in one of the holes through plate 30, which has no corresponding hole in the board 34, then it cannot reach the contact plate and operate the device. The number of these blind holes can be modified by replacing the board 34 with another board with holes differently arranged.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 6 to 10, there is a rocking stop 50 located beneath each hole in the plate 30. This stop is rectangular, as shown in Fig. 8, and is at its upper endpivoted so as to swing by a pivot 51 connecting it with a downwardly turned lip 52 punched out of a metal plate 53. Said stop plate 5.0 is, held in an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 6, by one end of a spring 54; which is fastened by its insertion into a notch in a bar 56 so as to. hold it in said inclined position. The spring 54: is shown in Fig. 9 and its two ends are. inserted through a hole 60. in the plate 50. The other end of the spring, when the. plate is tilted to, the side, as shown in Fig. 6, bends against the underside. of the plate 53. lVhen the punch 26, is pushed down, as shown in Fig. 6, it will. engage the inclined surface of the stop. 50. and push it still farther aside and out of the path of the punch so that the punch can; go on down against the contact plate27. The crowding. of the stop plate 50 farther to one. side by the punch. 26 releases the. end; of thespring 54L from. the bar 56, so

that when the punch is withdrawn, the other end of the spring 54 which bears against the underside of the plate 53 will force the stop plate 50 into a horizontal position, as shown at the left-hand end of Fig. 6. Thereafter the punch cannot be pushed down to the contact plate through the hole through which it was previously inserted because the stop 50 will be in a horizontal position in the path of the punch and prevent the complete operation of the punch or the closing of the electric circuit.

The invention claimed is:

1. A game apparatus including a game table, a punch board, a rotary indicator movable over said game table, means for actuating said indicator, and a punch adapted to be inserted in said punch board for operating said actuating means, whereby, said indicator will be moved over the table.

2. A game apparatus including a punch board having a contact plate, a game table, a rotary indicator movable over said game table, electrical means for actuating the same, and a punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is inserted in the punch board against said contact plate it will close the circuit.

3. A game apparatus including a game table, a rotary indicator adapted to rotate over the table, electrical means for actuating said indicator, a punch board havin a number of punch holes therein, a contact plate located below the punch board, an electrical connection between the contact plate and said electrical means, and a metal punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is inserted in any of the punch holes and engages the contact plate it will close the'circuit.

4. A game apparatus including a game table, a rotary indicator adapted to rotate over the table, electrical means for actuating said indicator, a punch board having a number of punch holes therein, a contact plate located below the punch board, an electrical connection between the contact plate and said electrical means, a metal punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is in any of the punch holes and engages the contact plate it will close the circuit, and means between the punch board and contact plate for obstructing some of the punch holes so that the holes and engages the contact plate it will close the circuit, and readily removable means between the punch board and contact plate for obstructing some of .the punch holes so that the punch cannot be inserted through them.

6. A. game apparatus including a game table, a rotary indicator adapted to rotate over the table, electrical means for actuating said indicator, a punch board having a num ber of punch holes therein, a contact plate located below the punch board, an electrical connection between the contact plate and said electrical means, a metal punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is inserted in any of the punch holes and engages the contact plate it will close the circuit, and movable means for obstructing the passageways for the punch arranged so that the punch can force the same out of its path and engage the contact plate and after the punch is removed, said obstructing means will move in the path of the punch so that the punch cannot be inserted in the same passageway a second time.

7. A game apparatus including a game table, a rotary indicator adapted to rotate over the table, electrical means for actuating said indicator, a punch board having a number of punch holes therein, a contact plate located below the punch board, an electrical connection between the contact plate and said electrical means, a metal punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is inserted in any of the punch holes and engages the contact plate it will close the circuit, a swinging stop plate mounted oscillatory between the punch board and the contact plate, means for holding said contact plate at an inclination to the path of the punch so that the punch will push it aside out of its patl1,and means for moving said contact plate squarely into the path of the punch after the, punch is withdrawn so that the punch cannot again be inserted.

8. A game apparatus including a game table, a rotary indicator adapted to rotate over the table, electrical means for actuating said indicator, a main frame, a top frame removable from the main frame, a fiXed board in the upper part of the main frame, a contact plate resting loosely on said board, stop means above said plate, a board above said stop means with holes through it, a sheet of paper upon said board, a punch board with a number of holes through it secured in said top frame, said holes registering with the holes in the board below, and a metal punch electrically connected with said electrical means so that when the punch is inserted in any of the punch holes and engages the contact plate, it will close the circuit.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

SAMUEL G. GREENWOOD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

